The 1938 World Cup: Italy Defends the Title in France

The 1938 World Cup: a brief history

The 1938 World Cup was the third edition of the FIFA tournament, held in France between 4 and 19 June 1938. Fifteen nations competed in the straight knockout format (the original 16 reduced to 15 after Austria''s withdrawal following the Anschluss). Italy beat Hungary 4-2 at the Stade Olympique de Colombes in Paris on 19 June 1938 to retain the title, becoming the first nation in history to successfully defend the World Cup. The tournament was the last for 12 years; the Second World War cancelled the 1942 and 1946 editions, and the World Cup did not return until 1950 in Brazil.

The award and the political backdrop

FIFA awarded the 1938 World Cup to France at the 1936 Berlin Congress, ahead of competing bids from Argentina and Germany. The decision provoked South American dissent, Argentina had expected the tournament to alternate between the continents, and both Argentina and Uruguay declined to participate as a result. The South American absence reduced the tournament''s competitive depth significantly.

The 1938 tournament was held against an extraordinary political backdrop. Nazi Germany had annexed Austria in March 1938 (the Anschluss), and the Austrian football team was dissolved into a unified German national team for the tournament. Several Austrian players were forced to compete for Germany; Matthias Sindelar, the Wunderteam captain, refused to play for the unified team, citing injury. He died in mysterious circumstances in January 1939, with the official cause given as carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty heating system; the case has been debated for decades.

The format and the round of 16

The format was a straight knockout from the round of 16. Austria''s withdrawal meant that Sweden received a bye into the quarter-finals. The 14 active first-round matches produced several memorable individual performances: Leônidas of Brazil scored four goals in his side''s 6-5 extra-time win over Poland in Strasbourg, in arguably the most-celebrated single match of the tournament.

Italy beat Norway 2-1 in extra time in the round of 16 in Marseille; Hungary beat the Dutch East Indies 6-0 in their opening match (the first appearance of an Asian team at a World Cup); Switzerland beat Germany 4-2 in a replay (after a 1-1 draw in Paris); and Cuba beat Romania 2-1 in a replay after a 3-3 draw, the only Cuban appearance at a World Cup before 2026.

The quarter-finals and the Battle of Bordeaux

The quarter-finals were played on 12 June 1938. The most-celebrated single match was the Brazil-Czechoslovakia tie in Bordeaux, which has gone down as the "Battle of Bordeaux". The match ended 1-1 after extra time and required a replay. Three players were sent off (two Brazilians and one Czechoslovakian), and several others were injured. Brazil''s Leônidas scored in both the original and the replay; Brazil won the replay 2-1 the following day.

The other quarter-finals: Italy beat France 3-1 in Paris (the host nation''s exit); Sweden beat Cuba 8-0 in Antibes; and Hungary beat Switzerland 2-0 in Lille.

The semi-finals

The semi-finals on 16 June produced an Italian win over Brazil (2-1, with Vittorio Pozzo''s side controversially leaving Leônidas out of the Brazilian starting XI for the match) and a Hungarian win over Sweden (5-1). The third-place playoff between Brazil and Sweden produced a 4-2 Brazilian win, with Leônidas scoring twice and finishing as the tournament''s top scorer with seven goals.

The final

The final, played at the Stade Olympique de Colombes on 19 June 1938 in front of around 45,000 spectators, ended in a 4-2 Italian win. Italy led 1-0 through Gino Colaussi after six minutes. Pál Titkos equalised for Hungary in the eighth minute. Silvio Piola gave Italy a 2-1 half-time lead, Colaussi added the third, György Sárosi pulled one back for Hungary at 3-2, and Piola completed the 4-2 win in the 82nd minute.

The Italian squad, again coached by Vittorio Pozzo, included captain Giuseppe Meazza, defender Ugo Locatelli, midfielder Pietro Serantoni, and forwards Silvio Piola, Gino Colaussi and Amadeo Biavati. Pozzo became the first coach to win two World Cups; the trophy was Italy''s second consecutive title.

Lasting figures

Leônidas da Silva, the Brazilian forward, won the 1938 Golden Boot with seven goals across four matches. He is regarded as one of the great Brazilian forwards of the pre-war era and is credited with popularising the bicycle kick in Brazilian football. The 1938 tournament was his only World Cup; the Brazilian federation''s decision to leave him out of the semi-final lineup against Italy has been the subject of decades of debate.

Silvio Piola, the Italian forward who scored twice in the final, retired with 30 international goals, a record for Italy that stood until Giuseppe Meazza''s pre-war goals were recounted decades later. Vittorio Pozzo''s back-to-back World Cup wins made him the most successful single coach of the pre-war era, a record that stood until Brazilian coach Mário Zagallo equalled it as both player and coach in the 1970 era.

Giuseppe Meazza captained the Italian squad through to the 1938 trophy. The Inter Milan stadium, the San Siro''s formal name (Stadio Giuseppe Meazza), is named in his honour. The 1938 squad''s back-to-back World Cup wins were not equalled until Brazil''s 1958 and 1962 successes.

Aftermath

The 1938 World Cup was the last for 12 years. The Second World War broke out in September 1939; FIFA suspended international football for the duration of the conflict. The 1942 and 1946 World Cups were both cancelled; FIFA returned the tournament in 1950 with Brazil as host nation, where the famous Maracanazo defeat to Uruguay would change Brazilian football for a generation.

The 1938 tournament was the third and final pre-war World Cup. The 12-year gap between 1938 and 1950 means that the entire generation of pre-war footballers (including those born in the 1900s and 1910s) lost the prime years of their international careers to the war. The 1938 squad of Italy were the youngest pre-war squad to win the World Cup, and several of the 1938 players (Piola, Meazza, Locatelli) would still be active when the 1950 tournament took place.

Italy's defensive mastery and Vittorio Pozzo's legacy

Italy's back-to-back World Cup victories (1934 and 1938) under Vittorio Pozzo established the coach as the most successful figure in pre-war international football. Pozzo's tactical approach emphasised defensive organisation combined with clinical finishing. The 1938 victory, despite Brazil's attractive attacking football and the Czechoslovak challenge, demonstrated that Italy's approach was highly effective. Pozzo would have reached a third World Cup final in 1950 had he remained as coach, but he stepped down after 1948, leaving a legacy that Italian football would emulate for decades.

War, geopolitics and the Austrian question

The political backdrop to 1938 made it the most controversial World Cup of the pre-war era. Austria's forced merger with Nazi Germany (the Anschluss) in March 1938 disrupted the tournament's preparation. Austrian players were ordered to compete under the Nazi flag or face consequences. Matthias Sindelar, the captain of the Wunderteam and arguably the greatest Austrian footballer of the interwar period, refused to participate. He claimed injury, but his decision was widely understood as political resistance. Sindelar died under suspicious circumstances in January 1939, with the official cause given as carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty heating system; the case remains controversial among historians. Four Austrian players did compete for the unified German team, an uncomfortable symbol of the Anschluss that has been discussed in countless retrospectives.

The tournament also reflected the growing power of European authoritarian regimes. Italy's fascist government had successfully used the 1934 tournament as a propaganda platform; Nazi Germany's participation in 1938 (though it was eliminated by Switzerland in the round of 16) represented a further attempt to weaponise international sport. The contrast with South American absence (Argentina and Uruguay's boycotts) reflected the early tensions of the Cold War and the continent-by-continent fragmentation that would characterise football politics for decades.

Leônidas and the bicycle kick

Leônidas da Silva, Brazil's leading forward, became one of the great individual stars of the 1938 tournament. His six-goal haul in four matches won him the Golden Boot (seven goals if his semi-final appearance is counted), but his legacy rested on his popularisation of the bicycle kick (the acrobatic overhead kick), a technique that would become central to Brazilian football. Leônidas's performance in the Poland match (six goals in a 6-5 extra-time victory) remains one of the greatest individual displays in World Cup history. The Brazilian squad's confidence after that result made the semi-final loss to Italy all the more dramatic. Leônidas's refusal to play in the third-place playoff (reportedly due to exhaustion and frustration at the semi-final exit) meant he missed the chance to finish as the outright tournament top scorer.

Reading on

For more on Italy''s broader World Cup record, see our long-read on Italy at the World Cup and the long-read on the 1934 World Cup. The World Cup history hub covers every tournament from 1930 to 2026.